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U.S. Album Sales Post First Growth Since 2004

U.S. Album Sales Post First Growth Since 2004

U.S. Album Sales Post First Growth Since 2004U.S. album sales increased 1.4 percent to 330.6 million units in 2011, up from 326.2 million units in 2010 and marking the first growth in album sales since 2004, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures. Total music sales in 2011 increased 6.9 percent to 1.6 billion, and more than 76,000 new albums were released in 2011, up 2.2 percent from 2010. Catalog album sales increased 9 percent to 151.2 million units, while sales of current albums decreased 4.2 percent to 179.4 million units. Digital track sales also increased 8.5 percent to 1.27 billion units, while digital album sales were up 19.5 percent to 103.1 million units. Overall digital sales, including track equivalents, increased 3.2 percent to 457.7 million units. Despite the overall increases in music sales in 2011, CD sales decreased 5.7 percent to 223.5 million units, a smaller deficit compared to the approximate 20 percent decline reported over the last four years. (1/5)

Sirius XM Radio Adds 1.7 Million Subscribers In 2011Sirius XM Radio added 1.7 million subscribers in 2011, marking the best year for the company in terms of subscriber gains ince Sirius and XM merged in 2008, according to a Billboard.biz report. More than 500,000 subscribers were added in the fourth quarter of 2011, bringing Sirius XM Radio's total year-end subscribers to 21.9 million. (1/5)

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